1.
Qin dynasty
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The Qin dynasty was the first dynasty of Imperial China, lasting from 221 to 206 BCE. The strength of the Qin state was increased by the Legalist reforms of Shang Yang in the fourth century BC. It is also the shortest dynasty in Chinese history, lasting only 15 years with two emperors, Qin administration was by no means purely punitive, and was not harsher than was generally prevalent at the time. Though often anathema to Legalist philosophy, Confucianism and its values too coexisted with Legalism during the reign of the First Emperor, Qin administrative documents considered such matters as filial piety, and one circulated letter reads that The purpose of all standards. Is to teach and lead the people, rid them of dissoluteness and depravity. during its reign over China, the Qin sought to create an imperial state unified by highly structured political power and a stable economy able to support a large military. This allowed for the construction of projects, such as a wall on the northern border. For years, local rulers built walls along Chinas northern border to protect their villages from invaders, Three hundred thousand peasants and convicts were forced to work on this 1,400 mile wall. The Qin dynasty introduced reforms, currency, weights and measures were standardized. The Qins military was revolutionary in that it used the most recently developed weaponry, transportation, an attempt to restrict criticism and purge all traces of old dynasties led to the supposed burning of books and burying of scholars later espoused by Confucians. Despite its military strength, the Qin dynasty did not last long, the advisors squabbled among themselves, however, resulting in both their deaths and that of the second Qin emperor. Popular revolt broke out a few later, and the weakened empire soon fell to a Chu lieutenant. Despite its rapid end, the dynasty influenced future Chinese empires, particularly the Han, in the 9th century BC, Feizi, a supposed descendant of the ancient political advisor Gao Yao, was granted rule over Qin City. The modern city of Tianshui stands where this city once was, during the rule of King Xiao of Zhou, the eighth king of the Zhou dynasty, this area became known as the state of Qin. In 897 BC, under the regency of Gonghe, the became a dependency allotted for the purpose of raising and breeding horses. One of Feizis descendants, Duke Zhuang, became favoured by King Ping of Zhou, as a reward, Zhuangs son, Duke Xiang, was sent eastward as the leader of a war expedition, during which he formally established the Qin. The state of Qin first sent an expedition into central China in 672 BC. By the dawn of the fourth century BC, however, the tribes had all been either subdued or conquered. The resulting city greatly resembled the capitals of other Warring States, notably, Qin Legalism encouraged practical and ruthless warfare

2.
Qin's wars of unification
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By the end of the wars in 221 BC, Qin had unified most of the states and occupied some lands south of the Yangtze River. The territories conquered by Qin served as the foundation of the Qin dynasty, over the course of the Warring States period, the Qin state had evolved to become the most powerful of the seven major states in China. In 238 BC, Ying Zheng came to the throne of Qin after eliminating his political rivals Lü Buwei, with help from Li Si, Wei Liao and others, Ying Zheng formulated a plan for conquering the other six major states and unifying China. The plan, which focuses on annexing each state individually, is based on allying with distant states and attacking nearby ones and its key steps were, ally with Yan and Qi, hold down Wei and Chu, conquer Han and Zhao. Han was the weakest of the seven states and had previously been subject to attacks by Qin. In 230 BCE, the Qin army led by Interior Minister Teng moved south, crossed the Yellow River and conquered Zheng, King An of Han surrendered and Han came under Qins control. The territory of Han was reorganised to form the Qin Empires Yingchuan commandery, in 236 BCE, while Zhao was attacking Yan, Qin used the opportunity to send two separate forces to invade Zhao. The Qin army led by Wang Jian conquered the Zhao territories of Eyu and Liaoyang, while the other Qin army under the command of Huan Yi and Yang Duanhe captured Ye, Zhao lost nine cities and its military prowess was weakened. Two years later, Qin planned to attack Han, but feared that Zhao might render support to Han, more than 100,000 soldiers were killed in the battle. The Zhao army was defeated and its commander, Hu Zhe, was killed in action, in 233 BCE, Huan Yis army crossed Mount Taihang and conquered the Zhao territories of Chili and Yian, both located southeast of present-day Shijiazhuang, Hebei. In 232 BC, the Qin forces split into two groups to attack Fanwu and Langmeng, but were defeated by the Zhao army led by Li Mu, Huan Yi fled to Yan to escape punishment for his defeat. However, the Zhao forces also sustained losses and could only retreat to defend their capital. In the following two years, Zhao was struck by two natural disasters — an earthquake and a severe famine, in 229 BC, Qin took advantage of the situation to launch a pincer attack from the north and south on Handan, Zhaos capital. Three Qin armies embarked from Shangdi, Jingxing and Henei, respectively led by Wang Jian, Jiang Lei and Yang Duanhe, Li Mu and Sima Shang were put in command of the Zhao army. Li Mu ordered his troops to build structures and avoid direct confrontation with the enemy. The Qin forces were unable to further and both sides reached a stalemate. The Qin state bribed Guo Kai, a Zhao minister, to sow discord between King Qian of Zhao and Li Mu, the king doubted Li Mus loyalty and ordered Li to hand over his authority to his deputies, Zhao Cong and Yan Ju. When Li Mu refused to obey, the became more suspicious of him and ordered his men to take Li by surprise

3.
Burning of books and burying of scholars
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The event caused the loss of many philosophical treatises of the Hundred Schools of Thought. The official philosophy of government survived and it is also now believed that many scholars were killed, but that they were not Confucians and were not buried alive. In any case, the incidents and the burning of books. Chancellor Li Si Said, I, your servant, propose that all historians records other than those of Qins be burned, anyone who dares to discuss the Shi Jing or the Classic of History shall be publicly executed. Anyone who uses history to criticize the present shall have his family executed, any official who sees the violations but fails to report them is equally guilty. Anyone who has failed to burn the books after thirty days of this announcement shall be subjected to tattooing, the books that have exemption are those on medicine, divination, agriculture, and forestry. Those who have interest in laws shall instead study from officials, the Basic Annals of the First Emperor of Qin thirty-fourth year Three categories of books were viewed by Li Si to be most dangerous politically. These were poetry, history, and philosophy, the ancient collection of poetry and historical records contained many stories concerning the ancient virtuous rulers. Li Si believed that if the people were to read these works they were likely to invoke the past, the reason for opposing various schools of philosophy was that they advocated political ideas often incompatible with the totalitarian regime. The extent of the damage to Chinese intellectual heritage is difficult to assess, there are several facts, however, that indicate the consequences of this event, although enduring, had not been extensive. First, it is recorded in Li Sis memorial that all books were to be spared. Secondly, even the books, poetry and philosophy in particular, were preserved in imperial archives. Of the various categories of books mentioned, history suffered the greatest loss, extremely few state history books before Qin have survived. Li Si stated that all history books not in the Qin interpretation were to be burned and it is not clear whether copies of these books were allowed to stay in the imperial archives. Even if some histories were preserved, they would have destroyed in 206 B. C. when enemies captured and burned the Qin imperial palaces in which the archives were most likely located. At the end of the Qin, the Epang Palaces national records were destroyed by fire, the belief was based on this passage in the Shiji, The first emperor therefore directed the imperial censor to investigate the scholars one by one. The scholars accused each other, and so the emperor personally determined their fate, more than 460 of them were buried alive at Xianyang, and the event is announced to all under heaven for warning followers. More people were exiled to border regions

4.
Battle of Julu
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The Battle of Julu was fought in Julu in 207 BC primarily between forces of the Qin dynasty and the insurgent state of Chu. The Qin commander was Zhang Han, while the Chu leader was Xiang Yu, the battle concluded with a decisive victory for the rebels over the larger Qin army. The battle marked the decline of Qin military power as the bulk of Qins armies were destroyed in this battle. In the ninth month of 208 BC, at the Battle of Dingtao. Zhang Han then led the Qin army north across the Yellow River to attack another rebel state, Zhao and he then ordered his deputies Wang Li and She Jian to besiege Handan while he garrisoned his army at the south to maintain a route for supplying the troops attacking Handan. Zhaos ruler Zhao Xie sent a messenger to request aid from King Huai II of Chu, the king promised that he would grant whoever conquered Guanzhong first the title of King of Guanzhong. Song Yis army reached Anyang, some away from Julu. Song Yi ordered his troops to lay there for 46 days. Xiang Yu was eager to engage Zhang Han and avenge his uncle Xiang Liang, Song Yi later sent his son Song Xiang to the Qi state and threw a lavish banquet at Wujian to see his son off. At the time, there were heavy rains and Song Yis soldiers suffered from cold, Xiang Yu made use of the situation to incite the mens anger towards Song Yi. On the morning of the 47th day, Xiang Yu burst into Song Yis tent, took the latter by surprise and killed him. Xiang Yu then announced to the army that Song Yi was plotting with the Qi state against Chu, the other subordinate generals feared Xiang Yu and allowed him to be the acting commander. Xiang Yu sent a messenger to inform King Huai II and the king was forced to approve his command. Xiang Yu sent Ying Bu and Zhongli Mo to lead 20,000 men to cross the Yellow River and reinforce Julu, in the twelfth month of 208 BC, Xiang Yu personally led an army across the river to meet up with Ying Bu and Zhongli Mo. By the time he arrived on the battlefield, Zhao forces in Julu had been nearly starved under a siege by Zhang Hans deputy Wang Li. Xiang Yu ordered his men to only three days worth of supplies and destroy the rest, along with their cauldrons and cooking utensils. In doing so, Xiang Yu was sending a signal to his troops that they had no chance of survival unless they defeated the enemy. Xiang Yus troops fought fiercely, to the extent of every Chu soldier taking on ten foes

5.
Xianyang
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Xianyang is a Chinese city that was the capital of China in the Qin dynasty. It is a prefecture in modern-day Shaanxi province, on the Wei River and it has a total area of 10,213 square kilometres. Because the city lay south of the Jiuzong Mountains and north of the Wei River - both sunlight-rich orientations - it was named Xianyang, meaning fully yang. Under Duke Xiao of Qin, minister Shang Yang designed Xianyang in 350 BC, in 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang eliminated all six other vassal states to establish the first centralized empire in Chinese history. Xianyang became the centre of politics, economy and culture of the Qin empire, the Emperor had a lavish mausoleum built near the capital, complete with his Terracotta Army. Qin Shi Huang expanded Xianyang beyond the walls, then he built replicas of the palaces of all the conquered states along the Wei River. In 220 BC, he built Xin Palace and later renamed it Apex temple to be the equivalent of the apex star. He continued with the theme of earth as the mirror of heaven building a network of 300 palaces in the Wei valley connected by elevated roads, in 212 BC, he built the Hilltop Palace. Shortly after the First Emperors death in 210 BC revolts erupted, at the beginning of December 207 BC, then King of Qin Ziying surrendered to rebel leader Liu Bang. Liu Bang went on to capture Xianyang, but was forced to hand it over to rebel leader, Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu then killed Ziying and burned Xianyang in 206 BC, in 202 BC, after defeating Xiang Yu, Liu Bang built a new city near the old Xianyang and named this new capital Changan. The Han-era town of Anling was located nearby and houses some of the Han dynastys mausoleums, from the end of the 1950s until the middle of the 1990s, archaeologists discovered and excavated a large numbers of Qin era sites in Xianyang, including palaces, workshops and tombs. Chinese Bureau of Statistics lists the population of the city at 316,641, rising to 814,625. Despite being a national capital, the city suffers from extreme air pollution. China National Highway 312 Xian Xianyang International Airport Xianyang Qindu Railway Station Xian Metro Line 1 Cotterell, the Imperial Capitals of China - An Inside View of the Celestial Empire. Xianyang Network Xianyang Forum Official website of Xianyang Government

6.
Epang Palace
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The Epang Palace in western Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China, was a palace complex of Qin Shihuang, emperor of China. Construction of the began in 212 BC. With the exception of its front hall, it was never completed according to findings by Chinese archaeologists, since 1961, the site of the palace is listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level. Unfinished building Chinese Palaces Epang Palace Site Zerstörte Legende vom Epang- Palast Der Aufstand von Chen Sheng und Wu Guang Protected Sites, Epang Palace Site

7.
Terracotta Army
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The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE, the figures, dating from approximately the late third century BCE, were discovered in 1974 by local farmers in Lintong District, Xian, Shaanxi province. The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals, the figures include warriors, chariots and horses. Other terracotta non-military figures were found in pits, including officials, acrobats, strongmen. The construction of the tomb was described by historian Sima Qian in his most noted work Shiji, work on the mausoleum began in 246 BCE soon after Emperor Qin ascended the throne, and the project eventually involved 700,000 workers. Sima Qian wrote that the First Emperor was buried with palaces, towers, officials, valuable artifacts, according to this account,100 flowing rivers were simulated using mercury, and above them the ceiling was decorated with heavenly bodies below which were the features of the land. Some translations of this passage refer to models or imitations, however, those words were not used in the original text, high levels of mercury were found in the soil of the tomb mound, giving credence to Sima Qians account. Later historical accounts suggested that the tomb had been looted by Xiang Yu, however, there are indications that the tomb may not have been plundered. For centuries, occasional reports mentioned pieces of terracotta figures and fragments of the Qin necropolis – roofing tiles and this discovery prompted Chinese archaeologists to investigate, revealing the largest pottery figurine group ever found in China. A museum complex has since been constructed over the area, with the largest pit enclosed within with a large structure, the Terracotta Army is part of a much larger necropolis. Ground-penetrating radar and core sampling have measured the area to be approximately 38 square miles, the necropolis was constructed as a microcosm of the emperors imperial palace or compound, and covers a large area around the tomb mound of the first emperor. The earthen tomb mound is located at the foot of Mount Li and built in a pyramidal shape, the necropolis consists of several offices, halls, stables, other structures as well as an imperial park placed around the tomb mound. The warriors stand guard to the east of the tomb, up to 5 metres of reddish, sandy soil had accumulated over the site in the two millennia following its construction, but archaeologists found evidence of earlier disturbances at the site. These were discarded as worthless and used along with soil to fill the excavations. The tomb appears to be a space the size of a football pitch. The tomb remains unopened, possibly due to concerns over preservation of its artifacts, for example, after the excavation of the Terracotta Army, the painted surface present on some terracotta figures began to flake and fade. The lacquer covering the paint can curl in fifteen seconds once exposed to Xians dry air, four main pits approximately 7 metres deep have been excavated. These are located approximately 1.5 kilometres east of the burial mound, the soldiers within were laid out as if to protect the tomb from the east, where all the Qin Emperors conquered states lay

8.
The First Emperor
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The First Emperor is an opera in two acts with music by Tan Dun and a libretto written in English by Tan Dun and Ha Jin. The opera received its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center in New York City on 21 December 2006. It was broadcast live to hundreds of cinemas around the world on 13 January 2007 as part of the Met Live in HD season, the following year, EMI released this movie broadcast on DVD. The opera was a co-production between the Metropolitan Opera and the Los Angeles Opera and was described to be the most elaborate Metropolitan opera production since War and Peace. The protagonist is the real-life emperor Qin Shi Huang, who unified China with force, erected part of the Great Wall, the story of the opera is based on the Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian and the screenplay of The Emperor’s Shadow by Wei Lu. Tan Dun was first approached by the Met in 1996 to write an opera, after seeing the film The Emperors Shadow, he settled on the theme of the First Emperor. Zhang Yimou, the stage director, had worked with Tan Dun on the movie Hero that also deals with emperor Qin. The world premiere production was estimated to cost in excess of US$2 million, in preparation, Met staff was instructed in Chinese, and workshops in the development of the opera were held in Shanghai, in part as a cost-saving measure. Eagerly anticipated, the opera has been described as a high-stakes, cross-cultural gamble. Tan Dun noted in regard to working in the form, “Opera will no longer be a Western form, as it is no longer an Italian form. ”Scene 1 The traditional music at the court displeases the Emperor. He believes that his friend, the composer Gao Jianli. Jianli lives in Yan, a state that he has not yet conquered, as a reward for a victory, the Emperor promises his crippled daughter, Princess Yueyang, to the General. Scene 2 The General is successful, and Jianli is brought before the Emperor, although the Emperor greets Jianli with friendship, Jianli is enraged and rejects him, his village was destroyed, and his mother was killed. He would rather die than compose an anthem for the emperor, scene 3 The Princess convinces the Emperor to hand Jianli over to her if she is able to convince him to live on and write the anthem. Jianli refuses to eat, but when the Princess feeds him from her own mouth and they make love and she loses her virginity. The Princess cries he is hurting her legs and she realises she is no longer paralysed, the Emperor, who is overjoyed to see her cured and calls Jianli a miracle worker, soon recognizes the cause. He wants to kill Jianli for violating his daughter, but hesitates at this point to get his anthem, scene 1 As Jianli instructs Princess Yueyang in music, he hears the slaves sing while they build the Great Wall. The Emperor appears and demands that his honor his promise of marriage to General Wang Bi

A stone rubbing of a carved relief from the Han dynasty depicting Jin Ke's assassination attempt on Qin Shi Huang; Jin Ke (left) is held by one of Qin Shi Huang's physicians (left, background). The dagger used in the assassination attempt is seen stuck in the pillar. Qin Shi Huang (right) is seen holding an imperial jade disc. One of his soldiers (far right) rushes to save his emperor.

Dujiangyan, an irrigation project completed in 256 BC during the Warring States period of China by the State of Qin. It is located on the Min River (Chinese: 岷江; pinyin: Mínjiāng) in Sichuan, China, near the capital Chengdu. Although a reinforced concreteweir has replaced Li Bing's original weighted bamboo baskets, the layout of the infrastructure remains the same and is still in use today to irrigate over 5,300 square kilometers of land in the region.